# 1968 Democratic Nomination for President: Who Did California's votes go to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575 "2011-01-22T16:55:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/1 "2011-01-22T16:55:24Z")
Bobby Kennedy had just won the California primary when he was assasinated. At the Democratic Convention, who did the California delegates vote for? Did they go as a block to the runner-up in the California primary, or were they all free to vote their own way? ETA: and, had Kennedy won any other primaries? if so, what happened to those blocks of votes? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/2 "2011-01-22T18:46:29Z")
I think back then, most states did not require delegates to vote for the primary winner (New Hampshire did, so they went for Eugene McCarthy, but that was unusual). The Kennedy delegate were free to vote for whomever they wished. I don’t think any state has ever required delegates to vote for anyone other than the candidate who they were pledged to, and the rules used to allow for free choice (and it still applies after the first ballot). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/3 "2011-01-22T18:59:02Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > ETA: and, had Kennedy won any other primaries? if so, what happened to those blocks of votes? From Wiki on the [Democratic Primaries of 1968,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States)_presidential_primaries,_1968) Kennedy won Indiana, Nebraska, and South Dakota besides California. The article indicates that many Kennedy delegates voted for George McGovern because they disliked Eugene McCarthy. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/4 "2011-01-22T19:21:16Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > From Wiki on the [Democratic Primaries of 1968,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States)_presidential_primaries,_1968) Kennedy won Indiana, Nebraska, and South Dakota besides California. The article indicates that many Kennedy delegates voted for George McGovern because they disliked Eugene McCarthy. One has to wonder about the negative name association with Joe McCarthy playing a role, even though it had been fourteen years. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/5 "2011-01-22T19:36:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > One has to wonder about the negative name association with Joe McCarthy playing a role, even though it had been fourteen years. I doubt it. There was no love lost between the Kennedy and McCarthy campaigns, on either side. I’m sure none of the delegates would have had that as a significant influence. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/6 "2011-01-22T21:42:28Z")
California voted 91 for McCarthy, 51 for McGovern, 17 for the Reverend Channing Phillips (a black minister from Washington DC), and 14 for Humphrey. McGovern entered the campaign late (Agusut 1968), and with no hope of winning, primarily to provide an alternative for “orphaned” Kennedy delegates who disliked McCarthy. The results from California, of course, indicate that not _all_ Kennedy delegates did so. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/7 "2011-01-24T15:04:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > One has to wonder about the negative name association with Joe McCarthy playing a role, even though it had been fourteen years. Joe McCarthy was very friendly with the Kennedys. He was the godfather of RFK’s oldest child, so Kennedy supporters would not have held the name against Eugene Mcarthy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/8 "2011-01-24T15:12:43Z")
Agreed. Bobby had even worked for Joe McCarthy as a young Capitol Hill staffer, and JFK was very reluctant to vote for McCarthy’s censure. IIRC he was in the hospital when the censure vote actually took place, and was later teased about this at the Gridiron Club dinner, where some members of Congress sang (to the tune of “My Darling Clementine”), “Where were you, Jack, where were you, Jack, when the Senate censured Joe…?” ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/9 "2011-01-24T15:27:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I think back then, most states did not require delegates to vote for the primary winner (New Hampshire did, so they went for Eugene McCarthy, but that was unusual). The Kennedy delegate were free to vote for whomever they wished. > > I don’t think any state has ever required delegates to vote for anyone other than the candidate who they were pledged to, and the rules used to allow for free choice (and it still applies after the first ballot). Yes. And you will note that only 13 states had primaries in 1968 anyway. The shift to binding primaries came after the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention. Both parties very quickly adopted rules favoring such primaries, which were not the rule in 1968. One of the factors in the riots was that McCarthy’s grass-roots supporters felt that they had been screwed by their own party - Humphrey won the nomination via a traditional route in spite of primary victories by McCarthy. After both parties shifted to binding primaries in most states, the conventions took on their present form, usually turning out to be giant pep rallies as the nominee has a lock long before the convention. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/10 "2011-01-25T01:41:41Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > One has to wonder about the negative name association with Joe McCarthy playing a role, even though it had been fourteen years. No everyone knew that it was a different McCarthy. McCarthy took early anti war stand. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1968-democratic-nomination-for-president-who-did-californias-votes-go-to/568575/11 "2011-01-25T05:23:43Z")
Other than the same last name and having served in the U.S. Senate, the two McCarthys had _very_ little in common.